Such structures, which are in particular present in multi-span bridges, comprise piers which bear on foundations in the ground and are used to support bridge elements such as a deck over which vehicles and/or pedestrians may pass.
Over time, such structures tend to degrade, for instance under the influence of natural elements or of malicious acts.
These degradations translate for example into the concrete of different components of the structure deteriorating, thereby reducing the structural properties of the structure.
In other situations, the load capacity of the structure may simply need upgrading, for instance due to a greater traffic capacity being needed on the bridge.
In such configurations, different approaches aimed at solving these problems are commonly employed. One approach lies in adjoining a reinforcement apparatus to the structure which is designed to take up at least part of the strains applied by the bridge elements to the piers.
The most commonly encountered reinforcement apparatus designed to that end presents itself in the form of an additional skin of reinforcing material such as concrete laid out around the initial piers. The skin is setup through a partial or complete demolition of the existing piers, anchoring reinforcement bars in the structure in the desired area, and pouring concrete in a space around the pier within which the bars are located.
This way of proceeding presents drawbacks. In particular, it requires that the existing structure be temporarily weakened due to its being partly or fully demolished. This weakening requires that the structure be temporarily propped, which increases the cost and duration of the whole operation without entirely removing the risk factor that the partial or full demolition constitutes.
The present invention seeks to improve this situation.